


And the Fire Went on for Years

by aam5ever



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: OC backstory, This is a backstory, Tieflings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 06:20:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9110344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aam5ever/pseuds/aam5ever
Summary: Ea revists her old home and recalls what happened that night.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've been playing D&D lately and I really wanted to write out the backstory of my character. Enjoy!

The thing that roused the young tiefling was the smell first. Burning wood, followed by the sounds of hooping laughter mixing with cries of anguish and sorrow. She brought herself up to sit, somewhat scratching sheets sliding off from her shoulders. The cool autumn night felt stuffy, smoky. Outside the window shone colors of sunlight, yet upon closer inspection it was no such thing. It was fire; roaring, unforgiving fire engulfing homes. 

 

Panic rose in Ea’s chest as she scrambled out of her bed, covers tangling her feet and sending her forehead first into the cool flooring. Ea brought her sheets away from her feet and finally stood. Her dark nightdress dusted her ankles as she backed up to touch the knob of her room door, which felt warm to the touch. The discovery made her gasp, but a single question rung in her mind: “Where is mother? Where is mother?”

 

She knew it wasn’t wise to open this door but she felt the obligation to weighing down on her. As soon as the door swung open on its hinges, Ea took a step back from the protruding flames. Hot fire spread along the columns of their home, and across the way she could see mother and others attempting to put out the flames. Her mother looked over, letting out a hoarse “Ea!” before another arrow burst through a now broken window. Everyone flinched as the flaming arrow sent a new spread of heat nearing the entrance of Ea’s bedroom. “Ea, you must go. Quickly, through the window of your bedroom!”

 

“Mommy, I can’t leave!” Ea took cautious steps out of her bedroom, narrowly missing a part of the ceiling caving in and beginning a new wall of fire. The heat made her sweat, her crimson hand coming up to wipe some of it from her brow. She clung to her short blonde hair, wary of it being engulfed in flame. “I can’t g-go, what if the bad men... what if they see me? What if...” She hiccuped, tears springing up in her eyes and sliding down the skin of her cheeks. Her feet dared to move towards her mother and the others, who couldn’t bring well water and conjure up liquid fast enough before more and more fire grew. The hoops and hollers of the offenders echoed outside above the screams of both babies and adults alike. A whole village of tieflings, about to be lost.

 

Her mother was desperate to have her child go. She felt like if doom was to take either one of them, it would be only her. The wood from above had fell in her way of the entrance, and another was daring to block off the only window remotely nearby. Ea refused to give up. She needed her to give up. “Ea, please listen to me, okay?” Through their burning home and groaning sounds of it threatening to collapse, she smiled. “You have to leave, you have to survive.” Her voice began to shake. “Mommy loves y-” 

 

Ea stumbled backwards, holding onto the doorframe of her bedroom as a section of the house finally gave. It gave a might creak, which reverberated in Ea’s ears, before it came crashing down onto her mother and the other tieflings around her. A sob came out of her, hot tears now pouring down her face along with a small stream of snot. She could barely register the fire beginning to burn her hand and the edges of her night shift before she finally instinctively drew herself back further and further into her room. The flames began to invade her room, and up went the scratchy sheets on her bed. She tried to get to her bedside drawer, but the fire beat her to it, taking it and everything inside. Seeing no other option, Ea ran to the window and managed to get it open. Looking outside and seeing nobody but running and screaming tieflings, she began her ascent and then subsequent descent from the window. Dropping down, she fell backwards onto her back and saw the rest of the red and orange take over her now lost bedroom. Blades of grass and dustings of dirt in her hair, Ea began to run.

 

The confusion was almost arresting. Ea had to evade multiple people just to find a way to safety, quite a few of them people she already knew. They bumped into her, stumbled behind her, made her fall. She yelled for help as a few nearly trampled her, feet and hooves stomping on her shoulder and side. An anonymous hand stretched out to her, and she was helped up by somebody she’ll never see the face of again. Looking for the person was useless. They were gone, just like the homes.

 

A new fresh chorus of shouts came from behind her. Ea turned to hear the familiar wicked laughter from earlier, the one that brought on the slaughter. It was bandits, Ea was sure of it. Humans and half-elves and sure enough any other creature that lived on their own in the harshness of wildlife had come to pillage and wreck and destroy. Her mother has told her about them before. Or rather, had told her.

 

“Run, everybody run!” A voice came out above the rest before it was cut by the sound of a dagger slicing through skin. Ea did nothing to look for the source; she simply turned to follow the directions. She ran as fast and as far as she could in her little purple nightdress, hair blowing in the wind behind her, trying to get away from both the approaching crowd and the bandits surely nipping at the heels of it. Others were ahead of her, men and women holding tiny children. They had more reason to get out of this than any other.

 

Ea did her best to beat them all nonetheless, tears blurring her vision and staining her face just as the dirt and soot did. As she left the village, ran up a nearby hill, and finally felt the cool breeze win over the stifling heat, Ea finally found the courage to look back. All the houses were set aflame, and forever and ever Ea could hear the sounds of screams under maniacal laughter.

 

___

 

The place was embedded in her memory. 

 

Ea was older now, a rough age over twenty. It had been over a decade since she had been here... but what did she expect? Nobody had come to rebuild the community, return it to its former glory. No, this community didn’t get that; anybody that had left must have found refuge elsewhere, or moved to the slums of the bigger city. All that was left was ruins and scorched earth.

 

“Why did I come.” She said to herself before sighing, shifting the bag on her shoulder, and entering. The bruise of that hoof coming down hard on her shoulder had long since healed, but it was one of those erasable scars she’ll always remember having.  
The grass had overgrown, the paths of the village somewhat unrecognizable. Cobblestone has either overturned or grown worn from the elements, and she didn’t bother to really follow the path. Dust settled over things untouched for the long periods of time. She saw the insides of homes, shelves with broken jars and charred drawings. Beds, where once must have been happy couples who lay together after they either prayed to their gods or tended to their young. She saw the melted remains of a perfume bottle not too far from one house. All Ea could think of was how it could have gotten out of the home. All she could think of was how it must have been a prized possession.

 

Upon making it to her destined destination, Ea closed her eyes for a moment before opening her eyes. Her legs, tired from the journey but feeling the need to continue, brought her into the remnants of her house. She knew where her mother had fallen victim to the bandits, where the ceiling had gave in. Using her thaumaturgy, Ea lit the lantern she had taken from Vycant just in case. The sun’s setting had reached its low point, shadows of the night coming down. The dark didn’t scare her; she could see with her darkvision quite well. However, despite all the bad history this flicker of light had with her, Ea found comfort in the fire contained within the lantern.

 

She had just come to check something, something important to her. It was her third day away from Vycant and journeying alone. Ea was used to be alone, but the echoes of the burning village called out to her from the darkness. It sent a chill down her spine, through her horns. Walking through the burnt building, Ea did her best to find what she needed before leaving.

 

Going towards her room, the flashback of making her way to the window hit her. It knocked the breath out of her for the moment before shaking her head and looking away from the new collapsed window. She felt the breeze from outside before turning to her bedside, where the dark charred remains of her bedroom drawer was. “Please be there...” Crouching down, Ea put the lantern by the drawer and tried to look for the parchment. The song must have been there, must have been...

 

Whatever paper was formerly in the drawer must have burnt up to ash. Ea ceased her searching all at once before taking up her lantern and standing at full height again. Dusting her robe the older and wiser tiefling moved away from the bedside. She took slow, reminiscing steps out of the bedroom while beginning to hum the song of her mother. It was half remembered, lyrics lost to the old flames.

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: aam5ever


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